The words in my mouth say speakSpeak and speak again until they listenMy strong body says stand tallDo not fear

I am aliveMy courage wants me to fightFor your rightsFor those who trust and count on me

I am aliveFor those who waitWho believeSomeone is there to help

I don’t fear deathOne day my strong spirit will standLike a wall in front of youStill you will not be able to touch me

By Maryam M.

Photo courtesy Afghan Youth Voices Festival

]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/03/alive/feed/1Nigin introductionhttp://awwproject.org/2015/03/nigin-introduction/
http://awwproject.org/2015/03/nigin-introduction/#respondMon, 02 Mar 2015 13:04:31 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12989Nigin spent her early years in Pakistan, until her family returned to Kabul where she lives with her parents and siblings. She hopes to study economics.
]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/03/nigin-introduction/feed/0Men and Women Are Differenthttp://awwproject.org/2015/03/men-and-women-are-different/
http://awwproject.org/2015/03/men-and-women-are-different/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 13:04:13 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12984

When I was young during the Taliban regime, my mother sometimes took me to visit her relatives who, like us, stayed in Afghanistan. Among them there was one family with a rude, violent father.

He would attack his wife, physically and verbally in front of the children, and then after she gave birth to a daughter, he divorced her. She had fallen and couldn’t walk. He said she was worthless and couldn’t take care of him or bear more children, so he divorced her.

His second wife gave him two daughters and three sons. The first time my mother and I went to visit the second wife, her husband was not at home. She shared her pains with my mother. They both cried.I could tell the woman felt better after she spoke with my mother.

The husband later died and when my mother and I went to visit the family again, the wife told us she was relieved he was gone. By now her sons were grown up, her daughter was a beautician, and they had a peaceful life without him. She said after her husband died, she went to his grave, sat there, and told him how much she hated him, how cruel he was to her and his children. She told him he was a loser because now he was buried beneath tons of soil and could not bother them. She told us how she brought up all the bad things he had done to them.

Being only eleven or twelve and listening to this, I thought to myself, “How can one man be so heartless to his family that his wife will not dare tell him about her feelings until he dies?”

After the Taliban era ended and I was allowed to study and work and watch TV, I heard more of those stories. In 2008, a 17-year-old girl, whose name was also Marzia, tried to commit suicide by setting herself on fire. When a reporter asked her why she did it, she said that she was dusting the TV, it accidentally fell and broke and she was so scared of her husband’s reaction that she wanted to end her life.

Fearing the differences

For a while, I started to think of men as different creatures. Creatures that had the power and permission to do whatever they wanted. Creatures who were human, but very different from me. I was afraid of them and many of my friends felt the same way. After I got the chance to travel, I began to realize there are many reasons behind the behavior of men in my country. We have a wrong tradition that teaches men that they are superior to women and that they have all the power and control. There is a lot of misunderstanding.

It is a reality that men and women are not alike. We do not look or act the same. It is easy to use these differences to separate by gender. It is very difficult when we are not given the opportunity to explore and understand the opposite gender.If we were given a chance from a young age to know the opposite sex, we would be able to accept and respect the differences between men and women.

In Afghanistan, if a woman takes the risk of getting to know males, her family and society will punish her. Girls are not allowed to be friends with boys. Islam dictates that a girl should not be a friend with any boy except her husband.Girls are allowed to talk with their brothers, but that is the only relationship a girl may have with a boy outside of marriage. And in some cases, brothers and sisters are not allowed to be friends with each other.

A divided house

For example, there is an area in Herat where boys are not allowed to even see their sisters after the age of sixteen. Here men typically have more than one wife and they have many children from each wife.They divide their house into two parts; the front and nicer part is for the boys and the second part including the kitchen is for the women. The boys are not allowed to go to the back part of the house except to get their food and clean clothes from their mothers. In this type of arrangement, women and men rarely interact or communicate at all.

Growing up I was not allowed to talk to males except for my brothers and as a result, I was uncomfortable with boys and men. I did not get to know males until I took my first trip to Kyrgyzstan for an orientation to come to the United States.

There were 20 boys and 20 girls. We had classes and sports with boys, so I started to talk to them. After returning home, some of the boys called me on the telephone. My family was not happy about it, but they saw it helped my self-confidence and courage and after a while it did not bother them.

There are some situations where males and females do get to know each other in Afghanistan.Educated women and men have these opportunities. I was surprised when I saw men come with us to protest against an anti-women’s rights law declared by a Shiite leader in 2009. The law stated that women should do whatever their husbands say. They could not leave home without permission and must have sex when the husband wanted to. Women’s groups organized a demonstration against the law.

Men and women communicating and understanding each other creates a healthy society. When I was a high school exchange student, I worked with a boy in my physics class.He was good at math and I was good at explaining the project.By getting to know each other, we were able to do the project well. We talked about our differences, accepted them, and worked together.

We cannot deny the differences in gender. But the differences should not make women feel inferior.Our children need the chance to understand the opposite sex and accept differences. This is the way for men and women to feel comfortable forging healthy relationships, families, and societies.

Studying economics is my passion. I very much wanted to study it at the university, so after high school graduation in 2012, I took the Kankor university entrance exam to join the economics department at Kabul University. I studied hard for that exam.

Four months later my test results arrived, putting me in the English department of the Language and Literature Faculty. I was sad and frustrated. My test score had ruined all of my hopes and dreams. I felt like a failure. When university started, I didn’t have any interest in studying in the English department.

But as the days passed, I began to understand the value of English literature, and I loved it.I became more and more interested in it and reading English literature got me interested in writing.

I liked having the ability to write essays that are useful for everyone. The English language has great importance in Afghanistan and all over the world. I can get good jobs with an English degree. With my English skills, I could work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations, the Ministry of Education, or as a translator for one of the embassies.

Now I feel successful and happy. I will never give up trying and I will continue studying.No one knows what is written in his or her destiny—only God knows. I think that we should work hard and let destiny do its work.

Our job is to work and study hard and to let God choose what is best for us. Life is full of happiness, sadness, laughter, tears, success, failure, motivation, and frustration, right and wrong. Life can suddenly convert happiness to sadness, or make us feel successful and then taste failure. It motivates us and makes us fly so high and then it slams us to the ground.It shows us right and wrong but makes us confused as to which to choose.

What would happen if life stopped changing its faces? What if we never got sad or frustrated and faced failure? We would not understand the value of success. Failure may cause pain but if we work hard and do not give up it can turn to success.

By Nigin

Photo by Christine Zenino

]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/03/never-give-up/feed/1AWWP Event in Arlington, VA, on March 20, 2015http://awwproject.org/2015/02/awwp-event-in-arlington-va-on-march-20-2015/
http://awwproject.org/2015/02/awwp-event-in-arlington-va-on-march-20-2015/#respondFri, 27 Feb 2015 22:35:40 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12979The Girl Up Club of Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, presents their second “We Will Rise” production on Friday, 20 March, 2015. See the flyer for details.

]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/02/awwp-event-in-arlington-va-on-march-20-2015/feed/0Hadia introductionhttp://awwproject.org/2015/02/hadia-introduction/
http://awwproject.org/2015/02/hadia-introduction/#respondThu, 26 Feb 2015 14:12:55 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12976Hadia has happy memories of growing up in Kabul in a family that encouraged her education. She is a university student, plays sports, and hopes to work in foreign affairs.
]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/02/hadia-introduction/feed/0Unseen Braveryhttp://awwproject.org/2015/02/unseen-bravery/
http://awwproject.org/2015/02/unseen-bravery/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 14:12:36 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12968

A few years ago when I was in the 12th grade, I heard the shocking news that Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban. That night, I asked my father about her, and he explained how she had sacrificed herself to struggle for girls’ education in a village in Pakistan. At the time I was preparing myself for the college entrance examinations and her bravery motivated me to learn more about her.

I know now that it was Malala’s bravery that threatened her life. She was only eleven years old and expressed her ideas without any fear.

It is strange that she comes from our part of the world, but it is the Nobel Prize that introduced her bravery to us.

Her bravery was not detected in a warzone, but in her anti-violent manner and in her message of peace. Her bravery helped people move from darkness to light, from ignorance to conscientiousness.

It is hard to understand when the gunmen stopped the schoolbus, one of them got on the bus and yelled, “Who is Malala? If you don’t answer, I will kill you all.”Malala did not hide, but introduced herself to her attackers.

We did not understand her bravery when she was almost sacrificed that October day. She was like a delicate flower when she was shot in her head and neck. Everyone thought that like the other flowers of the garden, she would be gone and forgotten.

Fortunately she recovered, after which the world introduced her bravery to us. I think it is strange that we could have celebrated her bravery before October 2012, but we did not.

As we commemorate the Nobel Prize to Malala, I hope we can also celebrate the bravery of all our Afghan children, mothers, fathers, men and women before they are introduced to us by a prize given by the West.

It is a pity that the Afghan people talk about Malala only because the media popularized her. She received the Nobel and Sakharov prizes and the world knows her birthday. Often we do not see the brave people who are all around us until we have lost them.

There are women in Afghanistan who deserve the Nobel Prize, such as Nahid Shahid, the girl who sacrificed herself for the education of girls in Kabul. A school is named for her. Afghan rights activists Ghaffar Khan and Sima Samar have been recognized worldwide for their work in education and the social affairs of the Afghan migrants. But politicians and political systems in Afghanistan usually do not appreciate the accomplishments of women.

By Hadia

Photo: Freida Pinto and Malala Yousafzai take part in a youth discussion at the Girl Summit 2014. Jessica Lea/Department for International Development

]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/02/unseen-bravery/feed/1Doorshttp://awwproject.org/2015/02/doors/
http://awwproject.org/2015/02/doors/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 14:11:38 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12972stop your job.
Another says, you should not have married
or you should not have children.
]]>

God! I am tiredI do not want to act any moreLet me go somewhere elseA place with love and freedom,A place of comfort and fortune

I am tired behind these closed doorsAlone with so many troublesMy house and homeMy husband, my parents, my in-lawsWill not help me

Everyone has an opinionOne says, stop your jobAnother says, you should not have marriedOr you should not have childrenBecause you want your job and education

I am a strong woman behind these doorsI will keep my jobAnd raise my childrenAnd improve my educationI will walk alone and open the door

By Seeta

Photo by Stanley Yuu

]]>http://awwproject.org/2015/02/doors/feed/4Rainbowhttp://awwproject.org/2015/02/rainbow/
http://awwproject.org/2015/02/rainbow/#commentsMon, 23 Feb 2015 13:59:36 +0000http://awwproject.org/?p=12956When I was a child, I heard people say when a girl follows a rainbow, she becomes a boy, and when a boy follows a rainbow, he becomes a girl. It was only a joke for children, or maybe it was a way to keep them indoors.

The colors of a rainbow are like the colors of life. What do the colors mean?

Like the colors of a rainbow, our lives are full of happiness, love, infidelity, and disbelief.

I once read how if a person prays during a rainfall, the prayer will be heard. If we see a rainbow in the sky during a rainfall, it means that if we pray while a rainbow appears, our prayers will be heard too.

Next time I see a sky that is rainy and sunny at the same time, I will pray for true love for my family and for my future love, whoever he will be. I will pray for God to let me try and do good, for me to make a new life.

When I was six, my mom registered me for school. It was my first time meeting teachers and strangers and in the first days I cried. But there were lots of girls and as the year passed, I got used to it. My mother encouraged me because she was illiterate, and my father encouraged me because education is important to him.

My school went from grade one to twelve and many things happened in those twelve years.In the second year I was sick and missed fifteen days and I began failing one subject.I tried hard and took the exam over again, and I passed and went on to third grade.

Then in fifth grade I had a very unjust teacher who would hit me and the other students if we did not study enough.

The scariest thing happened in seventh grade. The Taliban came to my school and hit the school guard. It was a terrible day. All the girls were so scared that we sat in the corner of the classroom and cried.We were afraid they would kill us if we tried to go home.

That was the worst time, when Taliban came.

But there were other worst things in the twelfth grade, like when I had an argument with my sister. I had made friends with all of my classmates, and that was good, and I remember it wasn’t even a serious argument with my sister, I would not talk to her.Our mom was so angry.I knew I was wrong. It was my fault. And then when I finished the twelfth grade, I took the Kankor exam—the exam you must take to go to university—and I failed it. It was a bad moment when my cousin called and told me.I cried.

My mom consoled me, and I went back and took the exam again at a private university, and this time I passed, and the day came that I graduated. That was the best day of my life, the day I had prepared myself for. I invited my friends and family to the event, and I was so happy. My mom and dad were so proud. I wore the graduation day clothes and the graduation hat. I got my diploma and went on to finish four years of university with a Bachelor’s degree. I hope one day to get my master’s degree, Inshallah.

I am thrilled to be educated.University was amazing.In university, I studied a lot but we could go outside and there was so much to see and learn.The university was co-ed. In my first year of university every day I saw boys and girls fall in love.

By Arifa H.

Young girls study in their classroom at the Nangalam Primary School in Manogai village, Afghanistan on September 27, 2006. Photo by Balazs Gardi.